The Handbook of Language Contact provides an
overview of central topics in contact
linguistics, and represents a substantial
contribution to the growing body of research in
language contact studies. The 863-page volume
consists of 40 chapters from 42 contributors,
and is divided into four major sections. The
first three sections are more theoretical in
orientation, while the fourth presents case
studies of language contact worldwide. Part I,
preceded by a table of contents, author
biographies, preface, and introduction,
includes chapters situating language contact
within the larger field of linguistics. Part II
includes chapters focusing on the relationship
between contact and language change, while Part
III discusses interactions between language
contact and society. As mentioned, Part IV
presents case studies of contact phenomena,
followed by author and subject indices. It
should be noted that this review is of the
paperback edition of a volume previously
published in hardcover in 2010.

In his introduction, ‘Language Contact:
Reconsideration and Reassessment’, editor
Raymond Hickey provides an overview of the
development of language contact studies over
time, highlighting important milestones and
identifying major streams of research.

In Chapter 1, ‘Contact Explanations in
Linguistics’, Sarah Thomason discusses the role
of language contact in language change, arguing
that both internal and external motivations are
possible. After a brief introduction, she
defines key terms and introduces common
questions within contact studies. She also
discusses criteria used to determine changes
prompted by contact, surveys various
explanations for both internally and externally
motivated change, and discusses social and
linguistic predictors of both.

Chapter 2 examines ‘Genetic Classification and
Language Contact’. Michael Noonan begins by
providing background on the genetic
classification of languages, identifying three
main approaches used in the past (generational
transmission, essentialist, and hybrid
approaches). He goes on to describe various
models of language families and their degree of
compatibility with a number of approaches to
genetic classification. He also discusses ways
in which outcomes of language contact may be
taken into account within the three models of
classification. Specifically, he examines the
effects of borrowing, substratic influence, and
koineization on genetic classification, and how
creoles and mixed languages might fit into
these approaches. He ends with a brief
discussion on speciation and language
contact.

In Chapter 3, ‘Contact, Convergence, and
Typology’, Yaron Matras describes the effects
of language contact in the areas of convergence
(pattern replication), borrowing (matter
replication), and typological change. Topics
covered include contact-induced
grammaticalization, factors in constructing a
model of language convergence, ways in which
convergence can effect change in the
typological profile of languages in contact,
and borrowing.

In Chapter 4, ‘Contact and Grammaticalization’,
Bernd Heine and Tania Kuteva suggest that
language contact and grammaticalization can
work together to effect language change,
despite previous claims to the contrary. They
provide a number of examples in which
grammaticalization has taken place as a result
of contact, while also detailing the
complexities of such processes. They also
discuss grammaticalization areas, how
contact-induced grammaticalization can bring
about a change in the typological profile of a
language, and potential constraints on
contact-induced grammaticalization.

Chapter 5 is entitled ‘Language Contact and
Grammatical Theory’. In the past, grammatical
theory has often overlooked contact varieties.
However, here Karen P. Corrigan uses a
generative framework to argue that these
languages are worthy of study and integration
into current models of linguistic theory. She
presents two case studies in which a generative
model is applied to account for contact-induced
morphosyntactic change. The first study
discusses the pro-drop/null subject parameter
in Early Modern Irish English, and the second
involves wh-movement and preposition stranding
in two types of Prince Edward Island
French.

In Chapter 6, ‘Computational Models and
Language Contact’, April McMahon discusses how
quantitative and computational methods can be
applied to develop language classification
models reflecting the effects of language
contact. This is a promising line of research,
since previous models have often failed to
account for contact effects in the
reconstruction of protolanguages. McMahon
summarizes a number of attempts at language
classification and identifies directions for
future research and areas for further
refinement of these models.

In Chapter 7, Raymond Hickey addresses ‘Contact
and Language Shift’, with a particular focus on
the shift from Irish to English in Ireland from
the seventeenth century onward. He discusses
historical circumstances leading to the decline
of the Irish language, highlighting the
difficulty of identifying the source of contact
phenomena when they are represented in more
than one language in a given contact situation.
He also describes cases of contact-induced
shift in Irish English, and discusses ways in
which English has influenced the Irish language
as it is spoken today.

Chapter 8 discusses ‘Contact and Borrowing’. In
this chapter, Donald Winford emphasizes the
idea that borrowing should be viewed as a
process rather than a product or result. He
discusses the classification of lexical
borrowing, ways in which borrowed items are
integrated into the recipient language, and
social and linguistic constraints on this
process. He also reevaluates contact phenomena
such as code-switching, relexification, and the
creation of mixed languages, interpreting them
as borrowing outcomes.

Chapter 9 discusses ‘Contact and
Code-Switching’, a common phenomenon in
language contact situations. Penelope
Gardner-Chloros discusses connections between
code-switching, language shift, and language
change. In particular, she discusses criteria
used to distinguish borrowing from
code-switching, and examines a number of
code-switching strategies and their
functions.

In Chapter 10, David Britain examines ‘Contact
and Dialectology’. Until recently, much
research in this field has focused primarily on
the speech of non-mobile individuals, leaving
the effects of mobility and dialect contact
largely unexplored. Britain promotes a view of
linguistic accommodation through everyday,
routine interactions as a type of dialect
contact which can ultimately lead to changes in
speech. He discusses diffusion, the role of
mobility in dialect contact, and the formation
of dialect boundaries. He also provides
examples of situations where contact has not
led to convergence between dialects, as
expected, but in which speakers maintain their
own dialect features as markers of local
identity. Finally, he presents a case study of
The Fens, an area of eastern England in which a
number of contact outcomes (e.g., leveling,
reallocation, hybridity) are exemplified.

In Chapter 11, ‘Contact and New Varieties’,
Paul Kerswill discusses new-dialect formation
as a result of contact. He describes a model of
stages of new-dialect formation in light of two
case studies (South African Bhojpuri and New
Zealand English), arguing that social factors
must be considered when constructing such
models. He also describes new-dialect formation
in so-called 'new towns’, proposes “principles
of koineization”, and discusses the connection
between new-dialect formation and
migration.

In Chapter 12, ‘Contact and Change: Pidgins and
Creoles’, John Holm describes the development
of new pidgin and creole varieties as a result
of language contact. He provides examples of
both pidgins and creoles and describes their
basic features, highlighting key differences
between the two. He also discusses the
development of semi-creoles through partial
restructuring, and situates creole studies
within the larger field of contact
linguistics.

Chapter 13, ‘Scenarios for Language Contact’,
presents a scenario approach to explanations of
contact-induced language change. Pieter Muysken
begins by describing the role of the
historical-comparative method in the
development of language contact studies. He
then presents differences between
historical-linguistic and contact-based
explanations of contact-induced change,
emphasizing the importance of distinguishing
between levels of aggregation and time depth in
identifying possible constraints on language
contact scenarios. He also surveys and
classifies various language contact situations
based on a set of core characteristics,
underscoring the idea that “multilingual
speakers do not operate in a sociolinguistic
vacuum” (278).

In Chapter 14, ‘Ethnic Identity and Linguistic
Contact’, Carmen Fought examines language
contact across ethnic boundaries. Drawing on
sociolinguistic literature, she discusses the
linguistic effects of interethnic contact,
showing that varying degrees of convergence are
possible. She also discusses the role of
identity in determining influence between
majority and minority ethnic varieties in
contact, the influence of minority ethnic
varieties on each other, and the role of
sociocultural factors in shaping linguistic
outcomes.

In Chapter 15, ‘Contact and Sociolinguistic
Typology’, Peter Trudgill provides examples of
languages which have undergone additive changes
as a result of contact, becoming more
morphologically and phonologically complex.
Conversely, he discusses instances in which
contact has led to simplification, outlining
three major types of contact-induced
simplification. He maintains that both
complexification and simplification are
possible outcomes of contact, and recommends
consideration of the societal factors linked to
each.

Chapter 16 is entitled ‘Contact and Language
Death’. Suzanne Romaine begins by discussing
possible causes of language death, chief among
which are intense contact situations involving
asymmetrical bilingualism. She then describes
conditions and consequences of both sudden and
gradual language death, and difficulties in
drawing a clear distinction between the two.
She goes on to describe processes of attrition
often found in languages in decline,
highlighting features which are especially
susceptible to change. Also discussed are cases
in which linguistic features are retained
rather than lost, or even transferred to the
more dominant language, reinforcing the notion
that outcomes of language contact are often
unpredictable.

In Chapter 17, Claire Bowern addresses the
topic of ‘Fieldwork in Contact Situations’. She
begins by defining language contact and
outlining various types of contact scenarios in
which fieldworkers may find themselves. This is
followed by a description of phenomena that can
be studied in such scenarios, as well as
linguistic and paralinguistic effects of
language contact on the field situation. She
ends with a discussion of useful field
techniques, including ethnographic methods,
direct methods of questioning, and metadata and
annotation.

In Chapter 18, ‘Macrofamilies, Macroareas, and
Contact’, Johanna Nichols distinguishes between
the roles of areality and descent in shaping
proposed macrofamilies. She surveys and
examines evidence for these groupings
throughout the world, including Africa,
Eurasia, New Guinea, Australia, North America,
and South America.

In Chapter 19, ‘Contact and Prehistory: The
Indo-European Northwest’ Theo Vennemann
discusses contact influences on northwestern
Indo-European during prehistoric times. In
particular, he examines possible substrate
influences from Basque and related languages in
the areas of vigesimality, use of two copulas,
and initial-syllable accent. He also stresses
the importance of investigating possible
substrate influences and incorporating these
findings into historical explanations of
Indo-European.

In Chapter 20, ‘Contact and the History of
Germanic Languages’, Paul Roberge surveys
various contact hypotheses for Germanic. He
outlines potential sources of regional
linguistic correspondences in prehistoric
Indo-European and discusses possible contact
influences on Germanic after the dissolution of
Proto-Germanic into northern, eastern, and
western groups. He also examines linguistic
effects of the migration of Germanic-speaking
peoples, including language shift, death, and
spread. Finally, he discusses the development
of hybridized forms of German used for
communication between ethnic groups.

In Chapter 21, ‘Contact and the Early History
of English’, Markku Filppula describes the
effects of language contact on the development
of English during the medieval period. He
begins by outlining major contact influences on
medieval English, including British Celtic,
Scandinavian languages, French, and varieties
of Latin. He then describes three syntactic
features for which external linguistic contact
likely influenced the development of early
English: the progressive, the it-cleft
construction, and certain relative clause
structures. For each feature, he surveys major
works and summarizes views in the literature
regarding possible contact influences.

In Chapter 22, ‘Contact and the Development of
American English’, Joseph C. Salmons and Thomas
C. Purnell emphasize the importance of
recognizing interaction between both internal
and external factors in effecting language
change. They identify three areas of language
contact theory which can be used to explain
selected developments in American English
(i.e., imposition, koineization, and timing)
and present three American English varieties
whose development has been influenced by
bilingualism. The chapter ends with a case
study illustrating the influence that immigrant
languages have had on the emergence of regional
varieties of English spoken in the Upper
Midwest.

Chapter 23 discusses ‘Contact Englishes and
Creoles in the Caribbean’, an area with an
exceptionally complex history. Edgar W.
Schneider begins by providing a historical
overview of settlement in the area and
identifying social and historical factors
contributing to the current linguistic
situation. He then discusses conditions for
creolization and provides a summary of major
questions and theories addressed in creole
studies. An overview of features characteristic
of most creoles is also presented, followed by
an argument for a “cline of creoleness”.
Schneider concludes by stressing the need for
additional research to be carried out on
lesser-studied contact varieties of the
Caribbean.

Chapter 24 is on ‘Contact and Asian Varieties
of English’, with a particular focus on
Singlish, a restructured variety of English
spoken in Singapore. Umberto Ansaldo describes
the dynamics of language contact between
English and other linguistic varieties in
Southeast Asia from an evolutionary
perspective, followed by an overview of
selected grammatical features of Singlish that
have been influenced by language contact. In
each of these cases, these features can be seen
as the result of substrate influence rather
than simplification. Ansaldo concludes by
stressing the importance of studying Asian
English varieties (AEVs) within their
individual ecological context rather than
making generalizations across multiple
varieties.

In Chapter 25, ‘Contact and African Englishes’,
Rajend Mesthrie discusses the effects of
language contact on English spoken in Africa.
He presents possible explanations for several
phonological and syntactic features, including
vowel systems, resumptive pronouns, left
dislocation, lack of distinction between
stative and habitual ‘be + -ing’, and
conflation of pronoun gender. In addition to
substrate influence, the source of these
features may be found in L2 processing
universals and superstrate influence. Finally,
Mesthrie introduces anti-deletion as a means of
understanding the effects of contact on
sub-Saharan English, a notion which could
possibly be extended to characterize other New
Englishes as well.

Chapter 26 is dedicated to ‘Contact and the
Celtic Languages’. Joseph F. Eska addresses
early potential contact influences on Celtic
languages, both in continental Europe and the
British Isles, followed by an examination of
the possible role of an Afro-Asiatic substratum
as a source of many of their less common
features. He presents several lines of evidence
against this possibility before concluding that
it is often difficult to tease apart internal
and external factors in language contact
situations, and that the source of these
features in Insular Celtic is likely some
combination of both.

In Chapter 27, John M. Lipski treats ‘Spanish
and Portuguese in Contact’. The chapter is
divided into two major sections, the first
describing contact-induced effects on Spanish
and the second focusing on Portuguese. Lipski
begins by providing a brief introduction to
current Spanish language contact scenarios. He
then details four examples of contact-induced
effects on several varieties of Spanish. In the
Portuguese portion of the chapter, Lipski
provides a brief description of contact
scenarios, followed by a description of the
interaction between Spanish and Portuguese in
two contact situations on the Brazilian border,
one involving Uruguayan Portuguese and another
involving Spanish spoken in two
Bolivian-Brazilian border towns.

Chapter 28 is on ‘Contact and the Development
of the Slavic Languages’. After a brief
introduction, Lenore A. Grenoble describes
prehistoric contact influences on Slavic
languages, with a particular focus on lexical
borrowings from Iranian and Germanic. She then
presents evidence for contact between
Finno-Ugric and Russian, followed by a
description of major influences on Slavic in
early history. She goes on to describe the
effects of contact between Slavic and languages
of western Europe in more detail, the influence
of Slavic languages on each other, and a number
of possible mixed language varieties that have
arisen as a result of the latter.

In Chapter 29, Johanna Laakso addresses
‘Contact and the Finno-Ugric Languages’. She
begins by describing the six main branches of
the Finno-Ugric family, followed by an overview
of some of the more common types of contact
scenarios for these languages. The following
discussion centers around issues regarding the
impact of language contact on Finno-Ugric that
have been of some debate. Concerning internal
versus external explanations for a number of
Finnish etymologies, Laakso proposes multiple
causation, while also noting the difficulty of
conducting such research within a language
contact framework.

Chapter 30 examines ‘Language Contact in the
Balkans’. Brian D. Joseph lists common features
of languages in this region, together with the
languages in which each of these features is
found. He discusses several difficulties
associated with determining specific causes of
contact-induced convergence, arguing that the
examination of degree, duration, and direction
of multilingualism is key to developing a more
accurate understanding of contact effects. He
illustrates this point by providing examples of
common discourse-related borrowings shared by
many Balkan languages. He also proposes an
alternative means of characterizing a
Sprachbund within the Balkan context, and
stresses the importance of focusing on local
dialects when studying the effects of language
contact within larger geographic areas.

Chapter 31, by Kees Versteegh, addresses
‘Contact and the Development of Arabic’.
Versteegh discusses substratal influence on the
development of Arabic through contact with
indigenous populations, cases in which Arabic
has been influenced by superimposed languages,
and influences on Arabic in areas where it is a
minority language. He also briefly discusses
the effect of Arabic on superimposed languages
through contact, the influence that Arabic has
had on minority languages in contact
situations, and the influence that Arabic has
exerted on other languages as a superimposed
language.

Chapter 32 describes ‘Turkic Language
Contacts’, a particularly rich area for contact
studies due to the high mobility of
Turkic-speaking groups in the past. Lars
Johanson discusses the dynamics of Turkic
language contact, as well as social and
structural factors that have led to
contact-induced changes. He then outlines major
contact areas for Turkic languages, providing
examples of contact-induced changes for each.
Johanson concludes with a brief discussion of
contact-induced changes in the areas of
morphology and syntax, which sometimes result
in significant restructuring.

Chapter 33 focuses on ‘Contact and North
American Languages’, particularly in regard to
the widespread transfer of morphological
features among genetically unrelated languages.
Marianne Mithun stresses the importance of
structural comparison in related languages
across geographical regions as a means of
distinguishing contact-induced changes from
other phenomena. She also illustrates how
aspects of core argument structure can change
and how abstract grammatical features can be
transferred among unrelated languages through
contact.

In Chapter 34, ‘Language Contact in Africa: A
Selected Review’, G. Tucker Childs describes
causes and effects of language contact in
Africa. He discusses contact between Atlantic
and Mande linguistic groups which has resulted
both in structural changes and severe
endangerment of the Atlantic languages. He also
discusses the development of restructured
varieties in Africa that have arisen through
contact, with a particular focus on pidgins and
creoles spoken in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and
South Africa. He then turns to the creation of
new, urban varieties in Africa as a result of
contact, and stresses the need for more
sociohistorical documentation in understanding
the dynamics of language contact on the
continent.

In Chapter 35, ‘Contact and Siberian
Languages’, Brigitte Pakendorf discusses a
number of contact phenomena among languages in
Siberia. These include lexical and structural
effects of Russian on indigenous languages of
Siberia, and the development of new varieties.
She also uses several examples from Evenki, a
Tungusic language, to illustrate how indigenous
languages in the region can influence one
another through contact.

Chapter 36 concerns ‘Language Contact in South
Asia’. Harold F. Schiffman presents an overview
of shared features among unrelated South Asian
languages as evidence for contact influence,
followed by a brief outline of key studies in
the field. He also discusses major issues
regarding pidgins and creoles in South Asian
contact studies, such as the role of language
universals, the possibility of relexification
among contact varieties, and an overall lack of
attention devoted to contact varieties with
non-European superstrates. Schiffman also
touches on other areas of pidgin/creole
research, plus a number of issues related to
grammaticalization in South Asian
languages.

In Chapter 37, Stephen Matthews addresses
‘Language Contact and Chinese’. He describes
historical influences on the development of
Chinese, typological aspects of Chinese that
have been influenced through contact, and
influences that Mandarin has had on other
Chinese dialects. Other topics covered include
the role of Chinese as a substrate in the
formation of new contact varieties, the
influence of Chinese on other East Asian
languages, code-mixing among Cantonese-English
bilinguals, and English borrowings from
Chinese.

Chapter 38 discusses ‘Contact and Indigenous
Languages in Australia’. Patrick McConvell
presents a number of studies discussing the
viability of the comparative method as a means
of accurately reconstructing these languages,
given the extent of lexical diffusion that
exists. He also discusses the origins and
development of pidgins and creoles in
Australia, including indigenous-based pidgins,
early English-based pidgins, Roper River Creole
(Kriol), Torres Strait Creole, and Aboriginal
Englishes. He also describes other contact
phenomena, such as lexical borrowing from
English by indigenous languages,
code-switching, language shift, the emergence
of new varieties through language mixing,
koineization, and language maintenance.

Chapter 39 describes ‘Language Contact in the
New Guinea Region’. William A. Foley begins by
identifying primary areas of language contact
in the region due to multilingualism. He then
discusses the borrowing of basic vocabulary and
bound morphemes, both a testament to the
intensity of contact and evidence that these
items can be borrowed under certain
circumstances. Foley also provides lexical,
phonological, and grammatical examples of
metatypy, illustrates contact influences
between Papuan and Austronesian languages, and
discusses pidginization as an additional
outcome of language contact in the region.

In Chapter 40, Jeff Siegel discusses ‘Contact
Languages of the Pacific’, with an emphasis on
new languages and dialects. The first section
covers pidginization, describing the
progression from pre-pidgins to stable pidgins,
as well as other pidgins of the region. Siegel
then describes the development of Hawai’i
Creole and other English-based creoles, in
addition to creoles based on European lexifiers
other than English, such as Rabaul Creole
German and Patois de St-Louis. This is followed
by a discussion of the creation of new dialects
as a result of language contact, in which
Siegel provides examples of both koines and
indigenized varieties, and establishes the
former as contact between dialects and the
latter as contact between languages.

EVALUATION

This volume represents a welcome addition to
the literature on language contact, assembling
contributions from international experts to
offer an extensive resource which encompasses a
broad range of language contact research. In
contrast to other volumes often used as
introductions to language contact studies, the
present work is distinctive in being organized
in handbook format, rather than as a monograph
(e.g., Thomason 2001) or introductory textbook
(e.g., Matras 2009, Winford 2003). More
generally, the publication of such a
substantial resource is indicative of a shift
in linguistics towards recognition of language
contact as an area of research in its own
right, albeit one with strong connections to
other topics of mainstream linguistic research,
as this volume highlights.

As a full-length handbook, the volume is well
suited to use by scholars aiming to find
relatively concise introductions to current
research in language contact as a point of
departure into the larger literature. As such,
it may be particularly useful in upper-level
sociolinguistics courses and language contact
seminars. The inclusion of references at the
end of each chapter, rather than in collected
form at the end of the volume, is a welcome
feature, allowing individual chapters to be
drawn on selectively in a course setting as
free-standing papers. On the other hand, this
format necessarily imposes limits on the length
of each chapter (averaging roughly 15-20
pages), which may not have allowed contributors
to provide extensive background to their topics
or highlight connections with related research
areas. In some cases, this contributed to
specialist terminology and representational
conventions not being introduced before their
first occurrence, and linguistic data being
presented without detailed explanation of their
relation to the point at hand. Additionally,
several chapters assume at least a basic
familiarity with concepts from historical
linguistics. As a consequence, some chapters
may be less accessible for beginning
undergraduates or readers without previous
background in these areas.

This volume sets out to provide systematic and
focused representation of all areas of language
contact, providing seventeen chapters on
general contact phenomena and twenty-three
chapters on specific case studies intended to
demonstrate the range and significance of
contact situations across the world’s
languages. The case studies do indeed
illustrate contact phenomena attested in many
geographical regions (e.g., Siberia, the
Balkans) and language groups (e.g.,
Finno-Ugric, Turkic, Celtic). However, a number
of these chapters focus exclusively on English,
representing five of the twenty-three case
studies, with a further five chapters on other
Indo-European languages. The prominent
representation of these languages among the
case studies no doubt reflects the significant
body of research that exists on these topics.
One consequence of this selection of case
studies, however, is the relative
underrepresentation of contact phenomena in
other language groups. For example, despite
having long been recognized as prominent
examples of linguistic areas, contact among the
indigenous languages of Central and South
America receives only indirect treatment.
Similarly, several continents are addressed
only in a single chapter, leaving comparatively
little space for discussion of the considerable
range of contact phenomena in these regions.
Aiming for typological balance in the
representation of language contact phenomena
among case studies is admittedly a tall order,
but one which furthers the goal of this volume
to provide comprehensive coverage of language
contact situations in all their diversity.

Another consequence of this selection of case
studies is that contact phenomena in languages
unrepresented in the sample do not receive
systematic attention. In this respect, although
several chapters make passing reference to the
issue, it is worth noting that no chapter is
devoted to mixed languages and the larger mixed
language debate (see, e.g., Matras & Bakker
2003). The handbook thus differs from other
volumes on language contact, in which the topic
of mixed languages is typically given dedicated
treatment (e.g., Matras 2009, Thomason 1997,
Thomason 2001, Thomason & Kaufman
1988).

These points aside, the present volume has many
notable merits, among them the impressive range
of perspectives and topics included. The
handbook balances its coverage of theoretical
issues with chapters devoted to emergent areas
of research, such as the development of
alternative models of language classification
using quantitative and computational methods
(Ch. 6), and discussion of the realities of
fieldwork in contact situations (Ch. 17).
Despite the diversity of contributions, the
grouping of chapters into larger sections with
a shared theme provides a sense of commonality,
and references from one chapter to another add
additional coherence. All of these features
contribute to the overall accessibility of the
volume, both as an introduction to language
contact and as a reference work. In sum, this
volume makes a strong contribution to the
language contact literature, and should serve
as an excellent resource for years to come.

Olivia N. Sammons is a doctoral student in
linguistics at the University of Alberta. Her
research interests include language
documentation and revitalization, language
contact, Algonquian languages (Cree, Michif,
Sauk), Canadian French, and sociolinguistics.
Her current project, ‘Documenting Michif
Variation’ (ELDP, 2011-2014), seeks to develop
permanent records of Michif as it is currently
spoken in western Canada. For more information,
see http://michifproject.wordpress.com.

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